Smugglersville “The cops mess with us. The thieves mess with us. Everybody messes with us.” I was hobbling back from the store with a liter of milk, when I saw three young men sitting on …

Tijuana! It feels like a lifetime. I’m down here checking on when Caesar Hotel’s opening. (They say they’re looking at mid-July.) And, hey hey! There’s my fave cafe, Praga, right across Revolución. It’s not hard …

“Honk for Barbecue,” says the sign outside. And hey, I’ll honk. Or I would, if I weren’t on a bus. Because now I’m curious. I remember this corner where El Cajon Boulevard meets Rolando. An …

We’re at the source here. Where it all began. This is Home Brew Mart, Ballast Point’s original outlet in Morena-Linda Vista, right under the University of San Diego, that Catholic campus on a massif that …

‘Baaa!” bleats the li’l white goat. “Humbug!” I say back to it. He’s stuck in a little corral off Dehesa (“Pasture”) Road. I’m stuck way the heck out here south of Alpine with nothing to …

Between Slurps Hmm…menu has things like “amuse-bouches,” “tartines,” and “baguettes.” Where do I start? The tartines (“open-face toasted sandwiches with melted cheese”)? For eight bucks you get “two of your choice, served on arugula salad.” …

La Mesa, six in the evening. This is 48 hours after “the events.” People are still cleaning up, boarding up, cheering each other up. After the human tsunami that swept through downtown La Mesa, it’s …

Zinqué. Guess I just like the crazy French name. It’s what French hipsters call a sidewalk bar where you can stop, slurp a beer standing at the counter, and carry on with your day. Now …

Word got out this morning. “Today’s the day!” This was last Thursday. Everybody was talking about the reopening of restaurants for sit-down. So hey, I decided just to hop on the Orange Line, ride it …

So last week, when the governor said “Restaurants can open,” did he mean like straightaway? “Let’s go see,” I say to my Scottish friend Annie. “Och,” she says. “Yer bum’s oot the windae!” Translation: You’re …

“On this site in 1897,” says one of those joke plaques, “nothing happened.” “Hey,” says Gary. “On this site in 2020 nothing happened either. This is the lamest Cinco de Mayo I’ve ever been at. …

A group of us sits, staring to the west. “Is that one?” says Kelly. It’s sunset. But we’re not looking for green flashes. We’re looking for white flashes in the blue teeth of the waves. …

“Ninth, Ninth. Walk sign is on to cross Ninth, Ninth.” Listening to this every minutre or so is the one downside to my surprise discovery here on Market. An actual sidewalk cafe where you can …

Short-term rentals thrive in East Village Is the demand for housing suitable to fill the thousands of rental units that have sprung up in downtown's East Village since the mid-2000s, and enough to sustain even …

‘Out! Out! I’m not having my car stunk up with fish and chips!” Sigh. These Scots. One minute they’re all about how they have the best fish and chips — “shark and taties” — in …

The tilapia looks up at me mournfully. He has been battered and fried, but, oh man, he still looks disturbingly like his former self. On the other hand, at $3.99, who am I to refuse …

I can’t believe it. But here’s the sign: “Hancock Street Cafe. Grand Reopening! Under New Management.” I swear. People are opening up all over (see last week’s column) in these worst of times. We’ve got …

Buona Forchetta couldn’t have picked a worse moment to open their new place at 10th and C in Coronado. But in a way, they’re having the best opening you could imagine. I know, because I …

‘Wash your hands!” says Hank. “If he says that one more time, I’m gonna...” growls Jim. No doubt, my buddy’s become a hand-wash missionary. He disappears off into the washrooms. Jim and I head for …

This restaurant-rich patch around Convoy and Balboa is one of my favorite areas in our fair city. So I’m glad to see business up here still looks just fine. Now, at 5 pm on March …

Solana Beach seeks electricity options Last month, Solana Beach announced the hunt for a service provider to help launch the county’s first local power program, which aims to curb greenhouse gases. This month, a war …

Bob Marley is everywhere. His music, his reggae colors, and his face in a picture with Makeda. “He was my friend,” says Makeda. “I produced his concert here in 1978. I was young, but I …

‘It’s on me,” says Hank. “What’ll it be?” “This is a breakfast place, right?” “Closes at two,” says Hank. “Has wicked chilaquiles.” We’ve been hauling down 3rd Avenue into Chula Vista’s Old Town, right by …

A couple of years ago, up in Valley Center, I found this li’l farmhouse where the Twelve Tribes early Christian group had set up their shop and eatery, in the middle of nowhere. Fresh, healthy, …

When it comes to sushi, the Southland is definitely rising. I’m coming out into the sun from the dentist’s office, down here in the Otay area. Feeling a lot better. Ready to tackle — hey …

‘This is going to hurt,” says Dr. Jamie. “Like, for a week.” He has been fighting to haul out a stubborn molar of mine. That was yesterday. Today, in IB, on Palm Avenue, I still …

It’s a crisp, fresh morning on Olde Highway 80. I’m aboard the MTS’s 838 truck/bus heading east, looking for somewhere to break fast. “Mary Etta’s is a morning eatery,” says this lady sitting across from …

Little India. Black Mountain Road. Looking for an Indian grocery outlet. Gotta find my new favorite flavor to swipe on bread. Marmite. Surprise for my friend Annie. She’s Scottish. She let me try some of …

‘Are you sure?” “Piece of cake. We’ll get right back into it. They’ll want us in Cirque du Soleil.” With my friend Annie again. ’Cause she’s usually up for anything. Went for a winter swim …

“Good wine needs no bush,” says Annie. We’re standing at a Mobil gas station, on the corner of 3rd and L in southern Chula Vista. “Say again?” I say. I know I know this phrase. …

We came here for fish, but not this sort of fish. Hank brought his rod to this totally cute little pond surrounded by houses. The lake that gives Eastlake its name, he says. But what …

Crack o’ dawn. Brand new day! Toughest task of new year — to start getting up early — accomplished! On the other hand, not totally together yet. I look up along deserted Sixth Avenue. Right …

First order of the day: Do. Not. Look. In. The. Mirror. Bit too much celebrating lately. So, second order of the day: belly up for a cup of real French coffee at Madeleine’s. Because, well, …

I blame my friend Annie for this. I mean I’ve been around, but she zips about in dizzying circles, social circles, the kind you read about in the glossy magazines. This day, I just had …

I sip my Kyoto Summer. I look down. A steamed burger? It comes out blanched, like a ghostly version of America’s favorite sandwich, but stuffed with a golden-crumbed chicken slab, Swiss cheese, and kimchi, and …

What’s missing? I keep looking at this thing. But nothing’s amiss. It is a complete burger, with slab of meat, slab of red onion, slab of cheese melting over the patty like a Salvador Dali …

The kid stands mesmerized. He watches as Louie picks up his piece of pizza, starts picking off the colorful bits like tomato and cilantro, then crunches at the edges of the crust. Louie’s an Eclectus …

‘I’m from the Northwest,” says Lu Hong. She means Northwest China. “In Xinjiang, people like their food spicy and hot. Same like Szechuan. But this food here is from South-East China. More like Shanghai, where …

Rosemarie is heads-down in her book, Sex, Lies, and Serious Money, by “NYT #1 best-selling author” Stuart Woods. (“Reads like a remake of Family Jewels,” says the dust jacket). She can do what she wants …

What is the difference? I’m sitting here trying to figure it out. Across Park Boulevard, there are two cafes, both smart, cool, new, and library-quiet, except for the piped music. Everyone in the modern building …

Mr. Peabody’s gets right to the point. “Please: No Assholes. No Hookers. No Tweekers.” It’s on signs behind the bar. It’s on the backs of tee shirts the bar crew wear. But up here in …

‘Suck the marrow, drink the beans,” says the guy coming out. “And watch out: the birria squirts.” I’ve just walked the half mile down from the Beyer Blue Line trolley stop. Deepest San Ysidro. I …

Little things mean a lot: the first little thing that makes me like this place is the, well, amuse-bouche. Wedges of crisp flatbread stacked vertically like surfboards. They have sesame and other seeds baked on …

Flaco plays the flames like a conductor. He thrusts his hands into them and flips half a dozen patties in short order. Smoke bulges up like a Nevada test cloud. “Sundays are always crazy,” he …

It’s Sunday morning. I’m in this mom and pop diner in downtown Oceanside. My friend Mary told me about it. Said it had won the prize — okay, in 2004 — for best cinnamon bun …

So this young couple slipped into the dimpled red booth. “They sat apart. They were shy,” says Tula. But this is Cafe La Maze. Big portraits of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard and a bunch …

Lost roads of San Diego:Sorrento Rd., Smilax, Edelweis There was also once a Smilax Road in Sorrento Valley, one in a series of short roads named for local flora. It paralleled the railroad tracks on …

These places! They all look right out of Davy Crockett! Where we’re heading is this 1919 lodge 6000 feet up on Mount Laguna, 100 years old this year, actually serving nosh and hauling grog up …

I swear. You blink in Coronado, and something has changed. This time it’s the musical chairs of bars. Suddenly, as of this month, the brand-new and lavishly-built The Henry is open, beaming out lights, with …

‘What is the one dish you would take to a desert island if you had to eat it for the rest of your life?” Interviewers are always throwing this out at celebrity chefs. Tonight, what …